Dou Dizhu (Fight the Landlord)

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card order
3. Setup
4. Bidding for the landlord
5. What you can play
6. Playing
7. End of the hand
8. Scoring
9. Winning the game
10. Tips for beginners
11. Variants

Overview

Dou Dizhu ("fight the landlord") is a hugely popular Chinese climbing game: each player in turn must beat the previous play with a higher card or combination – or pass. In every hand one player becomes the landlord and plays alone against the other two, the peasants, who work together as a team. Whoever gets rid of all their cards first wins the hand for their side: the landlord alone, or both peasants together.

• Players: 3 (a four-player version is under Variants).
• You need: one standard 52-card deck plus two jokers that look different – one counts as the red (big) joker, the other as the black (small) joker. If your jokers look alike, mark one. You also need paper and pencil for the score.

Card order

Suits do not matter at all. Only the rank (value) counts, from highest to lowest:

red joker – black joker – 2 – A – K – Q – J – 10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 6 – 5 – 4 – 3 (lowest)

So the 2 beats an Ace, and the jokers beat everything else.

Setup

1. Shuffle and draw: one player shuffles, the player to their left cuts, and the pack is placed face down in the middle. Turn one card face up and push it back into the pack somewhere near the middle.
2. Going anticlockwise (to the right), players take one card at a time from the top until everyone has 17 cards. The last 3 cards stay face down on the table – this is the kitty (in Chinese dipai, "bottom cards"), the landlord's reward.
3. Whoever drew the face-up card bids first.

(Many players simply let one player deal 17 cards to each and leave 3 face down; the face-up card only decides who bids first.)

Bidding for the landlord

In the auction you offer how much the hand is worth – 1, 2 or 3 – in return for becoming the landlord.

• Starting with the first bidder and going anticlockwise, each player either passes or bids higher than the highest bid so far.
• The auction ends when someone bids 3 (the maximum), or when two players in a row have passed after a bid. The highest bidder becomes the landlord; the bid is the stake for this hand.
• If all three players pass, throw the cards in and deal again.

The landlord takes the three kitty cards into their hand and now has 20 cards; the peasants keep 17 each. Traditionally the landlord takes them without showing them, but many groups now turn them face up for everyone to see first.

What you can play

A play is one of these combinations. In sequences, pair sequences and airplanes, 2s and jokers may never be used – they run at most up to the Ace.

More on some of these:

• Airplane with wings: you may add one extra card to each triplet of an airplane (7 7 7 8 8 8 + 3 + K), or one extra pair to each triplet (7 7 7 8 8 8 + 3 3 + K K). The extras must be of other ranks than the triplets, and you may not mix single cards and pairs. A 2 or one joker may be added, but not both jokers.
• Four + two: the two extra cards must be of different ranks (and not both jokers), and so must the two pairs. This is not a bomb.

Playing

The landlord leads the first round. Play goes anticlockwise.

1. Lead: the first player of a round plays any valid combination face up in the middle.
2. Beat or pass: each following player either passes or plays a higher combination of the same type and the same number of cards. A pair only beats a pair, a six-card sequence only a six-card sequence, and so on. - Singles, pairs, triplets and bombs are compared by rank. - Sequences, pair sequences and airplanes are compared by their highest card. - With extra cards (triplet + single, four + two, airplane with wings), only the triplets or the four count; the extra cards don't matter.
3. You may always pass, even if you could beat the play. Passing does not stop you from playing later in the same round.
4. End of the round: when two players in a row have passed, the round is over. The cards in the middle are put aside, and the player who made the last play leads the next round with anything they like.

Example: Anna is the landlord and leads 3 4 5 6 7. Ben (a peasant) plays 9 10 J Q K. Carla, his partner, passes – Ben's play is good for her side. Anna plays 10 J Q K A. Ben and Carla pass, so Anna leads again.

Bombs and the rocket

• A bomb beats any combination except a higher bomb or the rocket. It doesn't have to match the type or number of cards of the play it beats.
• The rocket (both jokers) beats everything, bombs included. Nothing beats it.
• Every bomb or rocket played doubles the stake of the hand (see Scoring).

End of the hand

The hand ends as soon as someone plays their last card.

• If the landlord goes out first, the landlord wins.
• If either peasant goes out first, both peasants win – even the one still holding cards.

Scoring

Start with the bid (1, 2 or 3). Then:

• Double it for every bomb and rocket played during the hand (by anyone).
• Double it again for a spring: the landlord wins and the peasants have not played a single card – or a peasant wins and the landlord has played nothing except the very first lead.

The result is the stake. If the landlord wins, each peasant pays the stake to the landlord. If the landlord loses, the landlord pays the stake to each peasant. On the score sheet: the landlord scores + or − twice the stake, each peasant the opposite of the stake.

Example: Carla wins the auction with a bid of 2. During play one bomb and the rocket are played: 2 × 2 × 2 = 8. Carla goes out first. Ben and Anna each score −8, Carla +16. Had Ben gone out first, Carla would have scored −16 and Ben and Anna +8 each.

Winning the game

Play an agreed number of hands – a multiple of three is fair, e.g. 9 – or until an agreed time. The player with the highest total wins.

Tips for beginners

• Before bidding, count your sure winners: jokers, 2s, bombs. Bid high only if you can win several rounds and have few leftover low singles.
• As a peasant, don't beat your partner's play just to be on top – pass and let them keep the lead.
• Keep track of the jokers and 2s. Once they are gone, your Aces become the top cards.
• Plan your hand into as few plays as possible: long sequences and airplanes shed many cards at once.
• A bomb doubles the stake – great if you're going to win, painful if you're not.

Variants

All optional – agree on them beforehand.

• Show the kitty: the landlord turns the three kitty cards face up before picking them up (now very common).
• Doubling: after the landlord picks up the kitty, each peasant may double the stake, and the landlord may then redouble. This is part of the official Chinese tournament rules.
• Four players: use two decks with four jokers (108 cards). Everyone gets 25 cards, and the landlord takes an 8-card kitty. No single extra cards are allowed and there is no four + two. A bomb is 4 or more cards of one rank, more cards beating fewer; the rocket is all four jokers. Only bombs of 6 or more cards and the rocket double the stake. A red and a black joker may not be played together as a pair.